India is undergoing significant social and political reconfigurations. To better understand these changes, CASI in conjunction with Milan Vaishnav of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is conducting a multi-year household panel survey of a cross-section of India’s population with the financial support of the Lok Foundation. The sampling will include over 65,000 households in 24 states and union territories. The goal of the “Lok Surveys” is to contribute rigorous empirical research which deepens understanding of the Indian social fabric and informs public debate and policy-making on a range of issues.

Social cleavages and hierarches such as caste, class, religion, gender, age, rural/urban, and region of origin/language are believed to play a major role in public opinion and perception. Over the next several years, we intend to explore the degree of convergence (or divergence) in social attitudes on specific issue areas in political economy, development, and social change across the principal hierarchies and cleavages in Indian society. We will also examine attitudinal inter-linkages among these hierarchies and cleavages, and how these affect citizens’ attitudes on other important issues.